by Tony Peraica

I am proud that I have been consistent in my opposition to the oppressive sales tax rate that has given portions of Cook County the highest sales tax in the country.

Almost as soon as this onerous tax was passed by the Cook County Board last year – I introduced an ordinance to repeal it.
Despite the cheap assertions by some politicians and fellow commissioners, my opposition to this tax has nothing to do with race or personal politics.

My opposition has to do with basic economics – and the well-being of my constituents.

These taxpayers are suffering in this down economy – and shown by the record rate of foreclosures and bankruptcies here in the county.

This high sales tax (and high taxes in general) slows economic growth, threatens jobs and incentivizes employers to leave the county. Further, this regressive tax disproportionately hurts the same minority and low-income taxpayers that some of my pro-tax colleagues on the board claim to defend.

To help Cook County taxpayers – we need to cut the wasteful spending, bring about common sense reductions to the county payroll and provide tax relief.

This will re-start our county’s economic engines, get people back to work and allow taxpayers to keep more of their hard-earned money.

I applaud my fellow county board members (some of whom originally supported the tax hike last year) who have come around to support a rollback of the sales tax. Unfortunately, our efforts have been stymied by Cook County’s archane rules that require a two-thirds majority to override Todd Stroger’s veto of our tax relief ordinance.

That is why I applaud the efforts of some Illinois State Representatives to change these rules:

State Sen. Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge) and Rep. Julie Hamos of (D-Evanston) said today that the threshold should be lowered to a three-fifths majority, which would mirror procedures in place at the state and federal level. They plan to push a bill making that change during the legislature’s fall veto session.

While I suspect that approaching election season may have something to do with some politicians’ newfound support for tax relief — I do support these efforts.  Todd Stroger’s veto of tax relief flies in the face of the majority of Cook County taxpayers — who, as I stated above, are suffering in this down economy.

The overwhelming majority of us on the county board have done our part to provide meaningful tax relief.  Unfortunately, Todd Stroger has taken advantage of unfortunate and outdated rules to block our efforts.

These rules should be changed — and I will do my part to change them.